Judenäule
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| Details | |
|---|---|
| Location | Endingen, Surbtal, Canton of Aargau |
| Country | Switzerland |
| Coordinates | 47°31′58″N 8°18′32″E / 47.5329°N 8.3089°ECoordinates: 47°31′58″N 8°18′32″E / 47.5329°N 8.3089°E |
| Style | Jewish |
| Owned by | Jewish community of Endingen and Lengnau |
| No. of graves | about 2,700 |
Jüdischer Friedhof Endingen (literally: Endingen Jewish Cemetery) is the oldest and largest Jewish cemetery in Switzerland, situated in the Surb Valley in the Canton of Aargau. The cemetery is listed in Swiss inventory of cultural property of national significance.
Four centuries ago, the deceased Jews from the communities of Endingen and Lengnau were buried in a cemetery on a small Rhein river island, the so-called Judenäule, situated in the present German city of Waldshut-Tiengen. The island was leased by the Jewish community of the Grafschaft Baden in 1603. However, as the island was repeatedly flooded and devastated, in 1750 the Surbtal Jews asked the Tagsatzung to establish a cemetery in the vicinity of their communities in the Surbtal valley. In 1812/13 the Judenäule was purchased by the Lengnau and Endingen communities for all time. The island was now barely used as a burial ground.
Once a year, the communal chevra kadisha (hevra kadishah, Aramaic: חברא קדישא, Ḥebh'ra Qaddisha, meaning "holy society") visited the graves on the island and took care of the graves by the mid-19th century. Since then, the grave stones fell gradually or were stolen by residents of surrounding municipalities for building purposes. In the 1920s, there were only three grave stones from 1690, 1699 and 1708 on the river island. In 1954/55 a river regulation was carried out – the remains of more than 80 graves were exhumed, buried in the Endingen cemetery, and the preserved grave stones (oldest from 1674) were re-erected there.
The Jewish communities of Endingen and Lengnau were able to acquire woodland on a small hill to establish a cemetery, between the two villages, at the price of 340 Florins in 1750. The oldest tombs are located in the southeast area of the cemetery towards Lengnau. The cemetery has been expanded several times. Based on an 1859 agreement, two-fifths of the cemetery belong to the Israelite community of Lengnau, and three-fifths to the Israelite community of Endingen. In 1963 a new plot, measuring 0.4864 hectares (1.2 acres), was bought which is owned by the Verein für Erhaltung der Synagogen und des Friedhofes Endingen-Lengnau (literally: "Association for the preservation of the synagogues and the cemetery Endingen-Lengnau").
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